News and views about the Structural Eurocodes

26 April 2011

Catching up...

It has been a while since I blogged about the Eurocodes, but that is not to say that things have gone quiet. Here is a quick summary of activity over the past few weeks or so:

The BGA Symposium on 'Eurocode 7 - Today and Tomorrow' was held in Cambridge on 23rd March and was a great success. Over 135 delegates attended, more than expected, and discussion was both lively and informative. Proceedings of the Symposium have been posted on the Symposium webpage and an article has appeared in the May 2011 issue of Ground Engineering entitled 'Eurocode Decoded'

The 26th meeting of TC250/SC7 (the Eurocode 7 committee) was also held in Cambridge, on 24th-25th March. The key outcome from this meeting was the establishment of various 'Evolution Groups' charged with preparing the way for the next edition of Eurocode 7, which possibly could be due in 2017

I delivered a one-day training course on behalf of IStructE, northern Irelend, on 29th March in Belfast. The course was well attended, but it is clear that many structural engineers are blissfully unaware of the changes that Eurocode 7 has brought to foundation design

A meeting of BSI committee B/526 was held in Chiswick on 8th April, at which discussion focussed on updating the UK National Annex to Eurocode 7 and future development of BS5930

Interest in the Eurocodes has arisen from China, where BSI is bidding to provide consulting and training across the full range of standards (loads, concrete, steel, geotechnics, and seismic). More information will follow as this develops

A 2-day JRC/SPRA Workshop is being planned for October with lectures on basis of design/materials/durability; conceptual design; structural analysis; limit state design; detailing of reinforcement and members; and foundation design. More information will follow as I get it

The second online training course in the Decoding Eurocode 7 series, 'Ground investigation and testing' starts next week. Details are available from the Geocentrix website